doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm Philippines: Rapidly Scaling Up the Response to Typhoon Haiyan November 13, 2013 2013 © Google MSF teams are have traveled to northern Cebu island, eastern Samar island, Panay Island, and western Leyte province to assess damage and needs. Wednesday, November 13, 2013 — In the ongoing effort to assist people in the central Philippines affected by Typhoon Haiyan, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have traveled by car, boat, plane, and helicopter to reach some of the areas that were in the center of the storm’s path—northern Cebu island, eastern Samar island, Panay Island, and western Leyte province—in order to evaluate the damage in the area and the medical needs of the populations. The storm’s toll was clearly massive and much of the region’s infrastructure was rendered inoperable, meaning that large numbers of people have yet to receive assistance—particularly in outlying islands that neither the national government nor international agencies have been able to reach. “Access is extremely difficult and [the situation] is preventing people from receiving help,” says Dr. Natasha Reyes, MSF emergency coordinator in the Philippines. “Our priority is to get to those people in more isolated areas; they are the hardest to reach and often the last to receive much-needed assistance.” Assessing the Needs One MSF team went by plane to Guiuan, a village of 45,000 people in the east of Samar, one of the first areas the typhoon hit. The damage is extensive and the needs immense. “The situation here is bleak,” says Alexis Moens, MSF’s assessment team leader. “The village has been flattened—houses, medical facilities, rice fields, fishing boats, all destroyed. People are living out in the open; there are no roofs left standing in the whole of Guiuan. The needs are immense and there are a lot of surrounding villages that are not yet covered by any aid organizations.” A full team will return by helicopter tomorrow and immediately get to work delivering medical assistance to as many people as possible. The priority will be to treat the wounded and ensure that people who need additional care are referred to more specialized services. The team will also provide clean water, shelter, and relief items. [photo: Philippines 2013 © Baikong Mamid/MSF An MSF aid worker packs essential kits before heading to Tacloban, one of the areas hit hardest by the storm.] “Today I met a man who lost his whole family,” says Moens. “He was hospitalized because he tried to stab himself with a knife in the chest. Tragically, we hear these sorts of stories in many places. There are villages that have lost so many people, and psychosocial assistance is going to be essential to help people rebuild their lives.” Another MSF team carried out an assessment of Panay Island by helicopter and estimates that around 50 percent of Roxas City, a town in Capiz province, has been destroyed. Further assessments will be carried out in the affected villages surrounding Roxas. A third team is currently in Ormoc, from which it will survey the situation in western Leyte. A fourth MSF team drove to northern Cebu, where most of the people who were displaced appear to have found shelter with other families and communities. The local hospital was overwhelmed with patients immediately after the typhoon passed through the area, but other nearby health centers and hospitals provided support, and it is now coping relatively well. The MSF team later boarded a ferry to Bantayan Island, where they will stay overnight and continue the assessment. More Staff and Materials on the Way MSF is rapidly scaling up its response and will have more than 100 staff in the area in the coming days, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, logisticians, psychologists, and water and sanitation experts. Nine planeloads of aid materials—including medical supplies, shelter materials, hygiene kits, and water and sanitation equipment—are being dispatched to the Philippines from MSF warehouses around the world. Three of the planes arrived in Cebu today. Related: Typhoon Haiyan: MSF Rushing Personnel, Supplies to Respond to Catastrophic Situation Typhoon Haiyan: MSF Emergency Teams Arrive in Cebu; Cargo Flights of Supplies Begin Typhoon Haiyan: Unprecedented Disaster Tags: Philippines, Natural Disaster - See more at: doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=7144&cat=field-news#sthash.OIsllnMw.dpuf See: https://doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/?ref=nav-footer ----------------------------------------- ...Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan described the President’s address as “as a tired recycled defense of his administration’s use of the Disbursement Acceleration Program to implement certain programs.” “The President is obviously sticking to his old track, that he is on the same side with the anti-corruption movement. But no matter how often he uses the pronoun ‘we’ in the hopes of fishing for sympathy, the public remains unmoved,” she said... manilastandardtoday/2013/11/01/pnoy-fans-anger-vs-pork/ PNoy fans anger vs pork By Christine F. Herrera | Nov. 01, 2013 at 12:00am 52 More, bigger rallies of People Power type planned PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III’s televised speech Wednesday night fanned the anger among various anti-pork barrel groups, which vowed Thursday to stage more and bigger rallies in the coming weeks to pressure the President into giving up his discretionary funds. The groups, inspired by the Million People March and Edsa Tayo rallies, said they would mount a series of massive protest actions beginning Nov. 7. “Protests are bound to get bigger, Pnoy [President Aquino] is courting a People Power type of sustained protests. The fact that his Halloween special last night is a failure is an indication of the people’s widespread outrage versus pork, the corrupt system and the Pork Barrel King,” said Vencer Crisostomo, president of Anakbayan. Renato Reyes, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general, announced that the #AbolishPork group led by Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Fr. Joe Dizon, the Concerned Citizens’ Movement, Pagbabago, Youth Act Now, Artista Kontra Korapsyon, have joined forces with militant groups to mount a nationwide protest on Nov. 7, 11, and 13 that would culminate on Nov. 30, Bonifacio Day. Reyes said anti-pork advocates would storm the Senate on Nov. 7, when Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam, will testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. On Nov. 11, the #AbolishPork group will mount a protest-action in front of the Supreme Court, where oral arguments on the legality of the President’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) are scheduled to be heard. Seven groups have petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the DAP disbursements on the grounds that the program is illegal. “Hijacking primetime to defend pork and DAP shows Aquino is in fact the Pork Barrel King. His assertion that he is not a thief only further enrages people and highlights his thievery. The fact is that DAP and pork equals theft. These are funds allotted supposedly for the people and for the poor, which they stole for their kapritso,” Crisostomo said. Reyes said the anti-pork groups were still finalizing the Nov. 13 and Nov. 30 venues. The Palace defended Mr. Aquino’s speech Thursday, saying he did mean to sow intrigue, and that the “old politician” that he referred to was not Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, one of three opposition senators accused of plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman. Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communication Operation Office said their tracking of public sentiment through their social media accounts showed that “75 percent of Filipinos felt positive about the speech.” Coloma did not cite figures to back up this claim. House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said now that the President has spoken with finality in defense of the unconstitutional DAP and the pork barrel system, Filipinos would have to resort to bigger rallies and “a resolute campaign” for a people’s initiative. “President Aquino was misleading the people when he said that only his political opponents are calling for the abolition of pork, and the people, including the Million People March, the different church leaders, various institutions and organizations, even Chief Justice Reynato Puno, are just stupidly following the dictates of these politicians,” Colmenares said. “He refuses to admit the reality that the people are generally incensed with the pork barrel and the DAP because it is not just the source of graft and corruption but of patronage politics as well. The misuse of public funds by giving it to political allies and withholding it from political opponents, or the giving of public funds to influence the Senate, or the Congress, or the voters, to support a bill, or a candidate, or an impeachment complaint, is no less evil than graft and corruption because it is also an abuse of public funds,” Colmenares said. Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said the President blew his chance to redeem his administration’s misuse of public funds through the DAP. “The President’s speech brought more questions than answers. The public wants to know where the savings came from, what projects the DAP had funded and who benefited from the DAP,” Dela Cruz said. “These were the questions that deserved answers but the President chose to ignore and deflect the issue by making it his personal issue that he was not a thief.” ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said President Aquino’s message only rehashed some statements previously articulated by Malacañang regarding the PDAF scam, the DAP, and the President Social Fund. “His main message, asking everyone to focus on the prosecution of those who stole from PDAF, is gratuitous, at best. The public has no intention whatsoever of letting the PDAF plunderers off the hook. This in no way precludes anyone from questioning the DAP. Contrary to what the President would have us believe, these are not mutually exclusive,” Tinio said. At worst, Tinio said, the President’s message indicates his continuing refusal to acknowledge that there are valid constitutional and legal questions regarding his possible abuse of presidential powers over appropriations through the DAP. “Furthermore, his depiction of Congress as an institution incapable of providing supplemental appropriations in response to emergency situations, thereby justifying Presidential pork, betrays the President’s utter lack of respect for a co-equal branch of government and a cavalier attitude to basic constitutional tenets. Ultimately, Aquino’s speech boiled down to an assertion of moral exceptionalism, a pigheaded defense of presidential pork, and a repudiation of the public clamor for its abolition,” Tinio said. Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, leader of an independent minority in the House, said he was disappointed at the President’s continued refusal to address questions concerning wanton abuse of his powers in the use of the DAP, which he said was illegal and unconstitutional. “It was very disappointing that President Aquino failed to address the main concern that we have been talking about, which is the abuse of his presidential prerogative in the disbursement of lump sum and other discretionary funds. It would have been better had the President made an admission about the shortcomings of his government in the judicious use of public funds,” Romualdez said. Romualdez also said the President “blew all his chances to salvage his waning popularity and performance ratings because the real issues are about the constitutionality and transparency in the use of public funds.” He said President Aquino’s speech would further drive the people to demand the abolition of the entire Priority Development Assistance Fund as well as the President’s own discretionary funds. “This will give more reasons for the public to demand the total abolition of the pork barrel system,” he said. Buhay Hayaang Yumabong party-list Rep. Lito Atienza and Dela Cruz, members of Romualdez’s independent bloc, also expressed disappointment over the President’s speech. “The people have been expecting him to deliver a dramatic speech against the pork barrel system... He should have listened to the clamor of the people to abolish pork barrel and stop defending DAP,” Atienza said. Dela Cruz said the President should have admitted the administration’s shortcomings. “The straight path isn’t only about his interity. That is not the issue. It is about the establishing the right principles of following the law and respecting the Constitution, and he should look closely at what his people and his allies who have been implicated in anomalies have done. They will lead to his downfall – what a waste,” Dela Cruz said. President Aquino’s allies rallied behind him, saying he was correct in lashing out at his critics. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said President Aquino never stole public funds, unlike those who have been accused of misusing their pork barrel. “I believe in the President and I am fully supportive of his administration,” Belmonte said. Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, spokesman of the President’s Liberal Party, said the Mr. Aquino’s critics were “again misleading the public by insinuating that there is graft and corruption when lawmakers recommend projects to the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) that should be funded by savings.” He also accused the President’s critics of failing to call for the incarceration of those accused of wrongdoing in the pork barrel scandal. “Their defeaning silence on this issue of putting those involved in graft and corruption in jail is really a big puzzle to me. Aren’t you surprised also?” he said. Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, another staunch Aquino ally, said: “I have always had faith in our people’s ability to see an ounce of significant truth amidst the mountain of lies thrown in this poisoned political atmosphere. The apparent recent success of those implicated in the pork barrel scam in diverting the attention from them to the President has been a sad development but I am certain that this success will be short lived.” But Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap disagreed, saying the President’s approval rating plummeted because of what his people were doing, and the hypocrisy behind his “straight path” slogan. “The President should accept that the real issue is this: many are still suffering because of the pork barrel system and his continued patronage of this goes against the wishes of the people. If the Aquino administration is serious about going after the corrupt, it should include its allies who were implicated in the PDAF and other scandals,” Hicap said. Colmenares added: “President Aquino has lost touch with reality when he thought a PR speech deodorizing pork will reclaim his sagging popularity. His sagging popularity came from the peoples’ response, not from politicians, to survey questions.” He added that the President had not resorted to a speech on primetime TV to talk about calamities such as the Bohol earthquake or the Zamboanga siege, but used his time to say things he had already said before. “The people are expecting him to announce that he has decided to heed their call and that he is abolishing pork by agreeing to itemize the billions in lump sum amounts in the 2014 budget. Instead, he paints himself into a corner and announced that he is the last man standing in the defense of pork, and worse, making it look like the people are nothing more than a bunch of thieving politicians or mere puppets of thieving politicians,” Colmenares said. In the Palace, Coloma emphasized that the President did not name names in his speech. “The President has no intention to create any intrigue because he is a disciplined person who was born with a political family. It is normal that from the start of his childhood, he was exposed to politics,” Coloma said. Asked about the reference to an “old politician” that many believed to be Enrile, Coloma said: I want to make it clear that the President did not intend that.” In Congress, militant lawmakers pressed for the complete abolition of the pork barrel system. Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said the fact that the 2014 national budget retained close to P1 trillion in lump-sum funds under the Office of the President as well as P24.5 billion in realigned pork barrel was a clear sign that massive corruption in the government will continue. Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan described the President’s address as “as a tired recycled defense of his administration’s use of the Disbursement Acceleration Program to implement certain programs.” “The President is obviously sticking to his old track, that he is on the same side with the anti-corruption movement. But no matter how often he uses the pronoun ‘we’ in the hopes of fishing for sympathy, the public remains unmoved,” she said. Former senator Panfilo Lacson, an Aquino ally who recently spoke out against the administration’s use of pork barrel and the DAP, said that while it was true that Mr. Aquino had not stolen anything, this did not mean his allies did not. Opposition Senator JV Ejercito disputed the President’s assertion that DAP was not pork. “PDAF is pork. DAP is pork. Pork should be abolished in all forms,” he said. He said DAP was illegal and allowed the President to obtain absolute power over government funds without congressional approval. “And he will use it for political favors,” he added. With Maricel V. Cruz, Sara Susanne Fabunan and Macon R. Araneta -------------------------------- manilastandardtoday/2013/11/10/house-defends-pork/ ..Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan, a member of the Makabayan Bloc which is allied with the House opposition bloc, maintained that public outrage over the P10-billion pork barrel scandal, and revelations of pork barrel abuses running in the billions of pes[o]s. “It would be best if (President Aquino) would scrap the PDAF, (Disbursement Allocation Program) and all forms of pork barrel system, right now so that there will be no more problem,” Ilagan said. She added that the P10-billion Napoles pork barrel scandal and the COA report on pork barrel anomalies for years 2007 and 2009, and reports of bigger abuses in the pork barrel under the Aquino government under the 2010 2011, 2012 budget, including the controversial DAP, will make the work of the bicameral conference committee contentious if not controversial. In addition, she said, the possibility of the Supreme Court declaring the pork barrel allocations and the DAP unconstitutional might render the bicameral committee approval of the pork barrel funds for 2014 a “futile exercise...” House defends pork By Maricel Cruz | Nov. 10, 2013 at 12:00am The House of Representatives is ready to defend the budget measure it approved recently although it did not take out the unpopular Priority Development Assistance Fund and retained close to P1 trillion in lump-sum allocations under the Office of the President. However, [Appropriations] committee chairman and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab admitted that the House’s decision to retain pork barrel funds will probably be the most controversial issue facing the bicameral conference committee when session resumes on Nov. 18. Ungab, whose own use of pork barrel funds has been questioned, said congressmen remained hopeful that the Senate will be able to approve its version of the 2014 General Appropriations Bill so that the bicameral conference committee can finally meet. “The Senate must first approve the budget. It is only after they pass the budget that we will know officially if there are conflicting provisions in the budget that was approved by the House and of the Senate,” Ungab told MST Sunday. He said he believes that both chambers are on the right track in terms of beating the deadline for the enactment of the budget measure. “I believe the senators are very much aware of the budget calendar to be followed and the favorable effects to the economy if the national budget is passed on time,” Ungab pointed out. Under the proposed 2014 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), a total of P20.4 billion is allotted to 289 House members while a total of P4.8 billion is allotted to 24 senators. Senate President Franklin Drilon earlier said he would spearhead the abolition of the senators’ pork barrel funds—an impending decision on the part of the Senate which, according to many House members, they would respect. Drilon’s move was intended to repair the tattered image of the Senate brought by the multi-million peso pork barrel scam allegedly perpetrated by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. “We give due courtesy to each others’ budget. We give the senators leeway as to what to do with their budget since their constituents are national in scope,” Ungab said. Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan, a member of the Makabayan Bloc which is allied with the House opposition bloc, maintained that public outrage over the P10-billion pork barrel scandal, and revelations of pork barrel abuses running in the billions of pes[o]s. “It would be best if (President Aquino) would scrap the PDAF, (Disbursement Allocation Program) and all forms of pork barrel system, right now so that there will be no more problem,” Ilagan said. She added that the P10-billion Napoles pork barrel scandal and the COA report on pork barrel anomalies for years 2007 and 2009, and reports of bigger abuses in the pork barrel under the Aquino government under the 2010 2011, 2012 budget, including the controversial DAP, will make the work of the bicameral conference committee contentious if not controversial. In addition, she said, the possibility of the Supreme Court declaring the pork barrel allocations and the DAP unconstitutional might render the bicameral committee approval of the pork barrel funds for 2014 a “futile exercise.”
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 06:18:25 +0000